Battleground
Battlegrounds are instanced areas solely used for the purposes of PvP. Each BG has two red instance entrance portals, one for Alliance, and one for the Horde. They attempt to allow balanced numbers into each instance, however, this is not always the case. The order in which players are allowed in is determined by a waiting queue. To enter the queue, the player must either step through the instance portal, or he must seek out a Battlemaster, which can be found in any capital city. Players will earn one or more Mark of Honor, using these along with honor points make PvP rewards available to the player. Once inside the instance, two teams will battle in a large-scale PvP fight for the area, with various and different objectives determining the winner. Players will not take durability damage dying in a battleground, except for when they fall off the edge of Eye of the Storm battleground. If a character becomes AFK while in a battleground, they will leave the instance and gain the Deserter debuff. The two initial Battleground areas, Alterac Valley and Warsong Gulch, went live June 7th, 2005. Arathi Basin was added to the list in patch 1.7 on September 13th, 2005. A fourth battleground, named Eye of the Storm, was released with the Burning Crusade. A fifth battleground is planned for Wrath of the Lich King. Existing Battlegrounds Warsong Gulch :Main article: Warsong Gulch *'Factions:' Silverwing Sentinels (Alliance), Warsong Outriders (Horde) *'Alliance Base:' Silverwing Hold *'Alliance Entrance:' Silverwing Grove, follow the road south from Silverwing Outpost; watch out for the Fallen Sky Lake area, which is full of level 24-30 Mobs. *'Horde Base:' Warsong Lumber Mill *'Horde Entrance:' Mor'shan Base Camp, west of Mor'shan Rampart in The Barrens. *'Levels:' 10-19, 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70. Minimum level to participate was lowered to 10 in 1.8. *'Combatants:' 10 per faction (5 minimum) *'Map:' On WorldofWarcraft.com Warsong Gulch is a fairly straightforward, capture-the-flag scenario. The objective is to be the first team to capture the enemy's flag three times. The Horde flag is located in the Warsong Lumber Mill (south), and the Alliance flag is located in Silverwing Hold (north). The opposing team's flag can be picked up instantly by right clicking it. The person carrying the opposing team's flag leaves a brightly colored trail. Using a mount, stealth, or teleport ability will cause the flag to be dropped in the field. When a team's flag is dropped in the field, the team can right click it to instantly return it to the flag stand. The opposing team members can right click it to pick it up and carry it. You cannot carry your own team's flag, only return it to base. The flag is captured by carrying it to your own flag stand and running over your own team's flag, which must be on the stand. When the flag is captured, it reappears on the flag stand after a few seconds. Arathi Basin :Main article: Arathi Basin *'Factions:' The League of Arathor (Alliance), The Defilers (Horde) *'Alliance Base:' Trollbane Hall *'Alliance Entrance:' Inside Refuge Pointe in the Arathi Highlands *'Horde Base:' Defiler's Den *'Horde Entrance:' Inside the Hammerfall gates, on the upper part of the town, in the Arathi Highlands *'Levels:' 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70 *'Combatants:' 15 per faction (7 minimum) *'Map:' On wow.tentonhammer.com The objective of Arathi Basin is to be the first side to amass 2000 victory points. Points are automatically awarded every few moments to each side in increments of 10. Players interact with flag at each of five bases--the Stables, the Lumber Mill, the Blacksmith, the Gold Mine and the Farm--in order to capture the base. The more bases your side controls, the faster you rack up points. It is easiest for the Horde to hold the Farm and the Alliance to hold to Stables, as these lie directly outside their respective starting locations. The Blacksmith is typically the most difficult to hold, as it lies in the center of the map. Alterac Valley :Main article: Alterac Valley *'Factions:' Stormpike Guard (Alliance), Frostwolf Clan (Horde) *'Alliance Base:' Dun Baldar (North) *'Alliance Entrance:' The Headland (Alterac Mountains) north of Southshore *'Horde Base:' Frostwolf Keep (South) *'Horde Entrance:' East of Sofera's Naze (Alterac Mountains) north of Tarren Mill *'Levels:' 51-60, 61-70 *'Combatants:' 40 per faction (20 minimum) The two ways to win Alterac Valley are to kill the enemy faction leader (Drek'thar or Vanndar Stormpike) or drain the opponent's reinforcement count to 0. There are a number of lesser objectives in Alterac Valley as well. *Each side possesses graveyards that can be captured. *Each side possesses towers/bunkers that can be captured or destroyed. *Each side has a lesser boss that can be fought as practice for fighting the enemy general. *Each side has access to a mine, which can be reclaimed from creeps to retrieve supplies for their army. *Each side is able to hunt Rams or Wolves for leather for bridles. *Each side is able to domesticate Rams or Wolves to create cavalry. *Each side has imprisoned Flight Master NPCs that can be rescued, who then become air bombers. *Each side has various steps that can be undertaken to create and upgrade NPC troops who then join the fighting. *Each side can summon a creature with great power that helps drive enemy forces back (i.e., Ivus the Forest Lord) Eye of the Storm :Main article: Eye of the Storm Requires The Burning Crusade expansion. *'Factions:' There are no factions associated with the two sides, although the Battlemasters and Emissaries for Eye of the Storm are Blood Elves for the Horde, Draenei for the Alliance. *'Alliance Base:' Unknown.' *'Alliance Entrance:' There is no exterior entrance. You can only enter by speaking with a Battlemaster.' *'Horde Base:' Unknown''' *'Horde Entrance:' There is no exterior entrance. You can only enter by speaking with a Battlemaster.' *'Combatants:' 15 per faction *'Levels:''' 61-69, 70 Eye of the Storm is a combination of the world PvP of Eastern Plaguelands (hold the towers) and elements of Warsong Gulch (capture the flag) and Arathi Basin (holding nodes for resources/victory points). There are 4 bases on the map, each of which will grant your team victory points over time. To speed up the process, a flag is located in the center of the map which you can bring to one of the bases you control. Doing so will grant you a variable number of points, dependent on how many bases you control. First to 2000 points wins. AFK in Battlegrounds Going AFK inside any of the battlegrounds will cause you to automatically leave the battleground and you will gain a debuff which does not allow you to join any battleground or arena group for 15 minutes ( the debuffs duration ) You can now report players as being AFK in battlegrounds by right clicking on the player. When enough reports are registered, a 60 second debuff will begin to count down. Once the timer is up a new debuff will appear that will prevent the player from gaining any honor while it is on. This debuff can be negated as soon as the player engages in PvP combat. Past Changes As of Patch 2.2, a new feature for reporting players as being AFK in battlegrounds by right clicking was added. See info above under "AFK in Battlegrounds" for more details. Alterac Valley As of Patch 2.3, you can gain victory if your team drains the opponent's reinforcement count to 0. Future/Incomplete Battlegrounds Azshara Crater is a reported future addition, but details are mostly speculative. Blizzard info: * Caydiem: We're not making any new Battlegrounds in the near future. We naturally need to be careful about spreading the PvP community thin. That isn't to say we're not thinking about what we could do with a new Battleground, but I wouldn't expect anything anytime soon, no. http://news.thottbot.com/?authors=-117&sidebars=Bliz&threads=2335007 * Nathaera: There is one new battleground planned. (There may be more added in the future but we shall see.) Just to clear something up, The Caverns of Time are not Battlegrounds. http://news.thottbot.com/?authors=-117&sidebars=Bliz&threads=3470208 Wrath of the Lich King A battleground with siege equipment and destructible buildings will be available in the second expansion pack and may be in the new Lake Wintergrasp zone. Update: In a January 2008 interview, blizzard stated that this will be world pvp, not a battleground. Reference needed. See also *Battlegroups *Battlegrounds area at the official site *Alliance battleground strategies *Post by Nethaera on Honor calculations Category:Battlegrounds Category:Game Terms